The basketball blog from Mark Woods - available at www.britball.com/blog

Saturday, 15 August 2009

Gortat injured, out of 02

Injury news from the 02... not good for Orlando or the Eurobasket hosts. Marcin Gortat was a DNP against Israel as Poland slipped to an 86-72 defeat.

Gortat underwent further tests after his Friday night collision with Joel Freeland as both pursued a loose ball, and will have an MRI on his back in the next day. He is flying back to Poland on Saturday, according to Polish team management, and will miss the rest of the weekend's Game On tournament.

"Before we think about Eurobasket, I'm worried first of all about his health," said Poland coach Muli Katzurin. "After that from our point of view, he's not a player we can easily replace. We're waiting to see the outcome of the examination"

On the GB front, Drew Sullivan resting ankle as a precaution.

SUNDAY UPDATE - Gortat had scans today. Polish team management said "Marcin has a back muscle injury and will be out for 5-7 days and miss exhibitions against Germany and Croatia in Hamburg. But he will be OK for Eurobasket and will probably play in our 2 games against Spain next week in Zaragoza."